Huskers Kick Buffaloes out of Bowl and get share of Big 12 North 40-31

What a way for senior day 2008 to end, with a sophomore kicker booming a school-record 57-yarder, 57.5 yards straight through the uprights with 1:43 remaining. It left grown men dancing in the aisles and in their living rooms (as I was doing my best John Travolta imitation). No it technically was not an "end of the game winning kick", but let's face it, if sophomore Alex Henery doesn't make that kick, the Huskers lose to the vermin from Colorado and spoil the end of one of the biggest turn-a-round seasons in Husker history. When Pelini called time out and looked into Alex Henery's eyes, he was saying "What do you think, kid? Can you make a 57-yarder and make 85,000 people go insane? Can you put one great charge into one great kick and provide one great memory for 21 seniors on the verge of losing to Colorado?" This was a game that was hard to watch from several perspectives. First you had Colorado going 68 yards on a pass play where the Husker's defense was way out of position on the second play of the game. They followed that up with a 44 yard completion and a 36 yard run on their very next position and boom, you are thinking Missouri and Oklahoma all over again. But this is not the middle of the season; this team now has a different mental outlook and never looked back. After gaining 149 yards on their first four plays, Colorado only gained 143 yards the rest of the game including only 39 in the fourth quarter, it was definitely "Blackshirt" material, and the reason that Henery had the opportunity to make the "Kick", as it will forever be referred to. The Huskers ran 29 more plays and had a total of 63 snaps in Colorado territory, 15 more than Colorado's game total of 48 and once again dominated time of possession 40 minutes to 20 minutes. However it took 3 big decisions by Bo Pelini that cemented once and for all that he is a good head coach (heading towards that other "G" word) and knows what he is doing on the sidelines. First off, with less than 2 minutes to go in the first half, momentum in the Huskers favor, leading 24-17 we lined up for a 50-yard field goal attempt. However Pelini decided to try a fake, which might have worked except for the fact that he tried the same play that he used against Kansas a few weeks ago, the blind over the shoulder toss to Henery, which was picked off by Jimmy Smith and 58 yards later, we had a tie game going into half time. Pelini told Jack Arute "Bonehead play of the year" of his call as he ran towards the locker room. Bo's next big call came with 8 minutes to go and the Huskers down by 4. On a 3rd and 1 a running play by Quentin Castile who was stopped for a 2 yard loss on the 20 yard line, rather than going for it, he chose to go for the 31 yard field goal to close the game to a single point. The 3rd and final call came of course on the 4th and 25 at the Colorado 40 yard line. Pelini called a time out, looked his kicker straight into the eyes and ask him if he could make it. We know how that conversation turned out now don't we and the hang over of Bill Callahan is now completely gone. Then you had a Husker offense, where senior Joe Ganz broke the school record for passing yards in a season (3,332 yards) throwing for 229 yards and 2 touchdowns in this game. Add to that Roy Helu Jr., a sophomore who has definitely established himself as the starting tail back rushing for 166 yards, while playing the 4th quarter with bruised ribs. Helu, who became a force starting with the Oklahoma game, finished the regular season with 834 yards, leading the team that pretty much split the I-back time with senior Marlon Lucky and fellow sophomore Quentin Castile through the first 9 games. In Helu's final four games he rushed for 510 yards and averaged 6.7 yard per carry for the season. The Huskers won five of their final six game (could have been 6 of 7 if not for the overtime loss to Texas Tech) heading into their bowl game, for their best closing run since the 2001 season. Don't forget that last year ended with an opposite ending of 6 losses out of the final 7 games, including 4 blowouts. Now in regards to where the team is heading (not bowl wise), I see only better things on the horizon. For one, this team led the nation in time of possession, an astounding 34 minutes per game (most ever over the past 4 seasons) and an even better 36 minutes in conference games, this resulted in the opposition running 200 fewer plays than last season. The defense, which ranked 12th in the Big 12 last season and 112th nationally had no where to go but up. After giving up over 460 yards per game last season the team improved to 360 (3rd in Big 12) this season, which is pretty impressive considering the offenses in the Big 12 this season (we faced Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas Tech). Of course the offense needed to be this stingy, given the fact that we had the speed of "Gary the snail" from SpongeBob on the defensive side of the ball. This lack of speed will improve next season with the addition of red shirts Will Compton and Sean Fisher at linebacker and Anthony Blue in the secondary. Pelini has shown that he doesn't recruit junior college players to fill gaps short term, nor does he waste red shirts; he allows the players that he has to play. Given the fact that in all likelihood we will have only 1 Big 12 first team all-conference player (Suh), you have to agree that the 2008 Nebraska Cornhuskers were a testimate to the will of their coach by going 8-4, tying for first place in the Big 12 North (thanks Kansas) and more than likely playing on January 1st (Gator Bowl). A final worry for next season is keeping this coaching staff together. A.D. Dr. Tom Osborne has mentioned this, and the fact that Shawn Watson (age 49) is a likely target of schools, as is receiver coach Ted Gilmore (Wyoming). Watson showed a great sense of play calling this season, spreading out the offense and playing to the strength of this team's talent. Will be looking forward to the bowl game announcement and additional recruiting announcements in the next couple of weeks, Go Big Red!!!